A redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) device is known as a storage control apparatus which handles a plurality of hard disk drives (HDDs) as a single logical volume. The RAID device includes drive enclosures (hereinafter, referred to as DEs) equipped with a plurality of HDDs and configures a RAID with the HDDs contained in the DEs. The RAID device allows an HDD configuration to be updated by either replacing an HDD within a DE or adding an HDD to a DE, or replacing or adding a DE.
The RAID device is required to provide a stable performance value (e.g., throughput and input/output per second (IOPS)) even when a change occurs in the HDD configuration. Therefore, the RAID device is equipped with an HDD verified as having a predetermined performance. Not only a lower limit but also an upper limit of the predetermined performance required for an HDD needs to be fit within a prescribed reference range.
The upper limit of the performance required for an HDD depends on internal processing of the HDD and thus, vendors of RAID devices and vendors of HDDs repeatedly change and verify firmware to achieve optimization of the firmware.
Related techniques are disclosed in, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 08-69359 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 08-63298.
Implementation of HDD compatibility with multiple vendors is being progressed in achieving optimization of supply chains accompanying globalization of markets and production bases. Such a flow of the implementation of HDD compatibility with multiple vendors tends to further improve in order to cope with causes of instability such as natural disasters or political unrests.
Further, HDDs having various performance properties exist according to diversification (such as, in size or revolving speed) of HDDs, in order to finely respond to the needs of users. Thus, a workload for achieving optimization of the firmware by the RAID device vendors and HDD vendors tends to increase more and more.